Colorado’s Democratic representatives in the U.S. House have low expectations from Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate in Boulder.

Reps. Diana DeGette of Denver, Ed Perlmutter of Arvada and Jared Polis of Boulder held a conference call with reporters Monday to talk up Democratic ideas and talk down what they expect to hear when the GOP field rolls into Boulder.

“They’ve got a whole host of bad policy ideas in tow,” Polis said.

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis

The Republican presidential candidates are expected to focus on the economy. The Colorado Democrats noted that the last time the GOP was in the White House until Jan. 21, 2009, the U.S. economy had shed about 750,000 jobs in each of the previous three months, but under Obama the nation has seen 67 consecutive months of private sector growth and a soaring stock market.

“Every single Republican who is running for president follows that same trickle-down, deregulation area of the Republican Party that left the economy in tatters at the end of the Bush administration,” he said.

Perlmutter said Republicans have shelved renewable energy and instead are pursuing the “same old fossil fuel approach, which just isn’t enough.”

“In Colorado we are very proud that we have an all-of-the-above menu of energy choices, but particularly we have a lot of solar, we have a lot of wind, and the Republicans would completely avoid that subject if they had the chance.” he said.

On climate change, Polis opined: “Issues like climate change and immigration are examples of how today’s Republican Party is totally unwilling to even have a serious debate, much less offer serious solutions.”

DeGette teed up family leave, equal pay for women and raising the minimum wage, while panning Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, sounding a lot like Polis.

“It’s clear the Republican Party is unwilling to have a serious conversation about the issues affecting women in America,” she said. “We’ll see if that changes this week in Boulder, but I’m not holding my breath.”

Polis said, by contrast, the Democratic debate in Las Vegas two weeks ago was “a real robust discussion about issues that matter to American families, like raising wages, equal pay for women and many other bread-and-butter issues that I hear about from our constituents every day.”

The cable chnnnel CNBC will air the GOP debate, called “Your Money, Your Vote,” in two segments, with the lineups decided by national polls.

The debate will be moderated by CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla, co-anchor of “Squawk on the Street” and “Squawk Alley”; Becky Quick, co-anchor of “Squawk Box”; and chief Washington correspondent John Harwood.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.